


Bad Liar

by goingbacktohogwarts



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Canon Compliant, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, M/M, Mutual Pining, PTSD, Slow Burn, basically what if steve and tony were in a relationship throughout the mcu movies, of course, pepper and tony are best friends not lovers au, self love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-04
Updated: 2019-01-10
Packaged: 2019-10-04 07:08:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17300075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goingbacktohogwarts/pseuds/goingbacktohogwarts
Summary: Steve is a man who has been manipulated by the system throughout his life. First it was the army, now it's S.H.I.E.L.D. A man out of time. Who can he trust in the blind haze of the twenty first century, but himself?Tony is in the process of righting the wrongs he committed as an arrogant young man. The consequences of disasters are constantly traced back to him. Why would he trust himself, when everyone else are far better people than he could ever hope to be?Two men who cannot trust. Two sides of the same coin. Maybe they're not so different after all.





	1. Bad Liar

**Author's Note:**

> A few months ago I made a massive chronological stony playlist cataloguing their relationship through the mcu, and decided to write it. Each chapter is named after the song. 
> 
>  
> 
> I'm trying not to give into you  
> But with my feelings on fire  
> Guess I'm a bad liar

As the quinjet flew lower, Steve noted the stark contrast between his memory of bombs and smoke, and the beautiful city stretching out beneath him now. He watched the city lights blur in and out of focus as Agent Romanoff brought the aircraft in closer to Loki’s coordinates. The hatch opened and Steve readied himself. The wind pinched his face. He jumped, and his heart leapt into his mouth. It didn't matter how many times he did this, his body protested insistently to the lack of a parachute. The night air stung his skin and he moved into position. He landed on his knee, wincing at the impact, and peered towards the large crowd that Loki presided over. Acid crept burned the back of his throat as he watched the man they called Loki spread his arms wide.  
“In the end, you will always kneel,”  
Steve made to stand and make his presence known, but an elderly gentleman rose and spoke haltingly in a thick German accent, “Not to men like you,”  
A shive crept up Steve's spine.  
Loki chuckled, “There are no men like me,”  
The elderly gentleman shook his head and Steve recognised the weariness in his eyes. He took a steadying breath, “There are always men like you,”  
Steve inhaled sharply and prepared to step in as Loki’s smile stretched wide, “Look to your elder, people. Let him be an example,”  
Loki raised his sceptre and Steve leapt from his hiding spot in front of the blast, shield raised. The blast ricocheted off his shield, knocking Loki backwards. The blast struck a familiar note in Steve's memory. In his mind's eye, he watched the Red Skull wield his tesseract-powered weapons.  
Steve strode towards the kneeling Loki, “You know, the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everyone else, we ended up disagreeing,”  
“The soldier,” Loki laughed again as he stood and planted his sceptre on the tarmac, “The man out of time,”  
Steve ignored the twinge in his stomach, “I’m not the one who’s out of time,”  
He resisted a smile as he heard the click of the quinjet as it aimed its weapons at Loki.  
Agent Romanoff’s voice reverberated out of the intercom, “Loki, drop the weapons and stand down,”

Loki glanced down in faux-humility before firing a blast of blue energy towards the quinjet. Steve hurled his shield at Loki, caught it as it bounced back towards him and ran to punch Loki in the face. Loki looked surprised at Steve’s approach and Steve had to smile at the irony before Loki slammed his sceptre into his stomach, sending him back several feet. The  old anger surged through Steve as he threw the shield to cover his next attempt at close combat, but he knew he was sloppy. He wished desperately that S.H.I.E.L.D had warned him about their discovery of the tesseract so he could have trained in advance for the inevitable fight.

Loki sent him flying again and placed the sceptre firmly against Steve’s helmet, “Kneel,” Loki commanded.

Steve was breathing harder than he would have liked but he refused to let Loki turn his power on the civilians still crowding the area. He grabbed the sceptre, and snarled, “Not today,”

Loki flung him sideways again as music suddenly blared out of the quinjet and they both caught sight of a glowing object zooming towards them.

Iron Man blasted Loki backwards as he landed, “Make your move, Reindeer Games,”

Loki huddled on the steps to the gala, holding his side. Steve walked over, picking up his shield on the way. Loki rippled with golden light as his clothes morphed and he raised his hands in defeat. Steve had the distinct feeling he was in over his head. Iron Man lowered his arms, “Good move,”

Steve glanced at Iron Man, someone he had only ever seen on the television, “Mr Stark,”

He nodded once in response, “Cap’n,”

Steve grimaced.

 

* * *

 

The dense clouds grew steadily darker as Agent Romanoff flew them back to a S.H.I.E.L.D base. Director Fury sounded impatient as he ordered Agent Romanoff to get Loki to him fast.  
Iron Man removed his helmet and Steve, despite having seen many photos of the man on the news, was surprised by how little of Howard there was in Tony Stark’s face. Their colouring was similar, but his eyes must be his mother’s, not that Steve had ever met Maria or even known about her during the war. Steve had been grateful that his friend had gained a couple more decades of life after the war despite the ultimately sudden end to his life. It had only been a couple of weeks after he woke up from the ice, that Steve had found out about their son via a news story regarding Justin Hammer’s attempts to build his own ‘iron man’ suits. Steve had barely understood the news story, but the name _Stark_ had snagged his attention.

Now, glancing back at the captive Loki, Steve turned to Tony and pursed his lips, “I don’t like it,” He hoped Tony would understand what he meant without Steve stating it explicitly.  
Tony twitched his face towards him, “What, Rock of Ages giving up so easily?”  
The constant strange references were beginning to aggravate Steve. He wasn't sure if Tony was purposefully trying to irritate him. Steve felt a prickle of annoyance that Tony seemed to be refusing to make the barest eye contact with him, “I don’t remember it being that easy. This guy packs a wallop,”  
Tony pursed his lips, “Still, you are pretty spry for an older fellow,” Steve frowned as Tony finally turned to look at him, “What’s your thing, pilates?”  
Steve struggled not to roll his eyes, “What?”  
“It’s like calisthenics,” Tony shrugged, “You might have missed a couple things, you know, while you were doing time as a Capsicle,” Tony briefly looked Steve up and down. He felt a strong desire to cover up somehow. He never had felt completely comfortable in his new body.  
He clenched his jaw, “Fury didn’t tell me he was calling you in,”  
“Yeah, well there’s a lot of things Fury doesn’t tell you,” Tony glanced back at him appraisingly.

 Lightning struck hard and sudden in front of the quinjet and Agent Romanoff’s shoulders tensed, “Where’s this coming from?”  
Loki also seemed to have tensed somewhat at the sudden storm. Steve directed his irritation at their captive, “What’s the matter? Scared of a little lightning?”  
Loki glanced over at him, an eyebrow quirked upwards, “I’m not overly fond of what follows,”  
Steve felt the rush of foreboding even before something heavy landed on top of the jet. Steve reached for his helmet as Tony placed his own back on and opened the back of jet.  
“What are you doing?” Steve yelled as the wind rushed in.  
Suddenly, a cloaked man landed on the ramp, smashed Tony backwards with an oversized hammer, grabbed Loki by the throat before any of them could react and flew out into the night.  
Tony grumbled from where he had fallen, “And now there’s that guy,”

Steve got the sense he was a little out of his depth.

“Another Asgardian?” asked Agent Romanoff.  
  
Steve got the sense that Agent Romanoff knew exactly who that man had been.  
  
He looked over at Tony, “Think the guy’s friendly?” he asked in a wry tone.  
Tony snapped down his mask, “Doesn't matter. If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract's lost.” Tony turned and readied himself to jump off the jet.  
Steve shouted frantically, "Stark, we need a plan of attack!”  
Tony turned for a moment towards Steve, “I have a plan. Attack."  
Steve watched as Tony zoomed out of the jet. He grunted in frustration; Tony Stark would not have lasted a day in the war.  
Agent Romanoff looked over her shoulder as Steve reached for a parachute, “I’d sit this one out, Cap,”  
Steve didn’t pause, “I don’t see how I can,”  
Agent Romanoff tried again, “These guys come from legends, they’re basically gods,”  
Steve smiled grimly, “There’s only one God, ma’am, and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t dress like that.”

 _'A man out of time,'_ Loki had called him. Steve jumped out of a jet for the second time that day.

 

Steve interrupted the fight as best he could. He threw his shield between the Asgardian and Tony, forcing their attention to where he stood on top of a fallen tree.

“Hey! That’s enough.” Steve could hear the slight tremor in his own voice as he gazed at the bulk of the unfamiliar figure. Steve jumped down to where they stood, attempting diplomacy, “Now, I don’t know what you plan on doing here-“

“I’ve come here to put an end to Loki’s schemes!” the blond man roared.

Steve looked him in the eye, “Then prove it,” He took a deep breath; his heart was in his mouth, “Put the hammer down,”

“Yeah, no! Bad call! He loves his hammer!” Tony chipped in, and that seemed to tip the balance out of their favour in Thor’s mind.

Thor swung the oversized hammer and smashed Tony backwards. Steve watched, helpless, as Tony smacked into a tree trunk some good distance away.

 Thor glared at Steve and grunted, “You want me to put the hammer down?”

Steve’s gut lurched and he crouched down with his shield over his head without a second to spare. Thor brought the hammer down on his shield and Steve sent his eternal thanks to Howard for wasting all the world’s vibranium on one piece of armoury. Where the hammer and shield connected, an implosion of light flew out in a shockwave, felling every tree within a mile radius.

Steve waited until the ringing in his ears had lessened before rising from his crouch. He swallowed as he surveyed the damage, staring around for Tony. Eventually, he spotted Tony unsteadily attempting to stand, and he exhaled shakily.

Finally, Steve caught the eye of the Asgardian who seemed somewhat mollified by the extent of the destruction he had caused. Steve raised an eyebrow, “Are we done here?”

 

* * *

 

_“It burns you to have come so close. To have the Tesseract, to have power, unlimited power. And for what? A warm light for all mankind to share. Only to be reminded what real power is.”_

Steve watched as the monitor faded to black. Thor, the Asgardian, stood with his back to the screen, staring into a corner of the briefing room, apparently too troubled to speak.  
Bruce was the first to break, “He really grows on you doesn’t he?”  
Steve had decided he liked Bruce, a man who tried so hard to be unobtrusive and average and failed so miserably on a daily basis. His humble charm and genius were too obvious for his attempts to dull himself.  
Steve sighed, “Loki’s going to drag this out,” He glanced up at the Asgardian who was still staring into nothing, “So, Thor, what’s his play?”  
Thor ran a hand over his worn face, “He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard or any world known,” It seemed to cost him something to admit that. He was a leader amongst people he had yet to earn the respect of, and Steve could see the exhaustion in his eyes, “He means to lead them against your people; they will win him the earth in return, I suspect, for the tesseract.”  
Steve struggled a little with the reality of what Thor was saying, “An army?” He glanced at Agent Romanoff, “From outer space?”  
Bruce stood and gestured with his glasses, “He’s building another portal. That’s what he needs Erik Selvig for.”  
Thor stiffened, “Selvig?"  
Bruce nodded, “He’s an astrophysicist,”  
“He’s a friend,” Thor's voice broke a little and Steve felt for the other man, even if he was a demigod from outer space.  
Agent Romanoff added, “Loki had him under some kind of spell,” She pursed her lips, “Along with one of ours,”  
Steve suspected that Agent Romanoff was taking that loss harder than she wanted to let on.  
He attempted to steer the conversation away from those Loki had taken hostage; “I want to know why Loki let us take him. He’s not leading an army from here.”  
Bruce shook his head, “I don’t think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy’s brain is a bag full of cats, you could smell crazy on him,”  
Thor stepped towards Bruce, a little of that aggression he had taken out on Tony resurfacing in his face, “Have care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason but he is of Asgard, and he’s my brother,”  
“He killed eighty people in two days.”  
Steve had to respect Agent Romanoff’s lack of interest in Thor’s pride.  
“He’s adopted,” Thor hastened to say.  
Steve struggled to contain his smile.  
Bruce was now caught up in his own thoughts, “Iridium . . . what did they need the iridium for?”  
Steve felt so incredibly out of his depth it was painful. Outer space and demigods and the tesseract, _again._ Except this time, the world didn’t want it destroyed at all costs, but preserved so they could tamper with it.   
Tony saved Steve from having to mask his complete inability to answer Bruce’s question; “It’s a stabilising agent,” He strolled into the room with Agent Coulson, muttering something before continuing, ‘It means the portal won’t collapse on itself like it did at S.H.I.E.L.D. He waved a placating hand at Thor, “No hard feelings, Point Break. You’ve got a mean swing,”  
Steve reflected that at least Agent Romanoff’s bluntness had been justified.   
Tony strode on past Thor, “Also, it means the portal can open as wide, and stay open as long, as Loki wants,” As Tony moved to stand amongst a series of monitors, Steve did a double take. As he took in his full figure. Steve realised Tony could barely be hitting 5’8. Steve shook himself; of course the Iron Man suit made Tony taller. He didn't know why he was so surprised. He felt a flicker of something in his gut as he remembered how much he had _hated_ being small.  
Suddenly, Tony pointed at a man sitting at one of the computers, “That man is playing Galaga! Thought we wouldn't notice. But we did.”  
Confused, Steve watched as Tony covered one eye with his hand. He turned to Agent Hill, “How does Fury even see these?”  
Agent Hill arched a single inhospitable eyebrow, “He turns,”  
“Sounds exhausting,” replied Tony.  
Steve thought he caught a hint of amusement in Agent Hill’s face and hastened to smother his own.  
Tony gestured at Agent Romanoff, “The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. Only major component he still needs is a power source of high energy density. Something to kickstart the cube,”  
  
Bile crept up the back of Steve’s throat. Usually, the stuff he didn’t understand in conversations these days were to do with not being from the twenty first century. That felt reasonable, but this _?_ This was stuff he needed to successfully execute his mission. This was information that he might need to use to improvise if need be.  
  
Agent Hill was frowning at Tony with her arms crossed, “When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?”  
Tony glanced at her over his shoulder, “Last night,”  
Agent Hill rolled her eyes. The bile burned the back of his throat.  
Tony gestured vaguely, “The packet, Selvig’s notes, the Extraction Theory papers,” Tony turned to the rest of them and spread his hands, “Am I the only one who did the reading?”  
Steve pressed his lips together. He tried to memorise the list before asking hesitantly, “Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?”  
Bruce stepped in, “He would have to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier,”  
Tony turned to him with the beginnings of a smile on his face, “Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunnelling effect,”  
“Well, if he could do that, he could achieve Heavy Ion Fusion at any reactor on the planet,” replied Bruce.  
Tony flung out an arm towards Bruce, “Finally, someone who speaks English,”  
A jolt of irritation shot through Steve, “Is that what that was?”  
Tony and Bruce shook hands and took no notice of Steve. Bruce looked at ease for the first time since he stepped on the helicarrier.  
Tony grinned, “It’s good to meet you, Dr. Banner; your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled,”  
Steve allowed himself an infinitesimal sigh .  
Tony continued, “And I’m a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster,”  
Steve snapped his head back to Tony in disbelief as Bruce lowered his head and murmured, “Thanks,”  
Director Fury saved the poor man with his own entrance, “Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube,” Fury raised a sceptical eyebrow at Tony, who lifted his hands in denial, “I was hoping you might join him,”  
Fury moved into the centre of the room, drawing their collective gaze.  
Steve remembered the blast from Loki’s sceptre, “I would start with that stick of his. It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon,”  
Director Fury nodded, “I don’t know about that, but it is powered by the cube, and I’d like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys,”  
Steve knew Agent Romanoff appreciated that.  
Thor was frowning, “Monkeys? I do not understand,”  
Steve felt a burst of relief and pointed at Thor, “I do!” His cheeks grew hot as he lowered his arm. He licked his lips and pensively glanced back at Bruce and Tony, “I understood that reference,”

Tony rolled his eyes at him.


	2. Nervous

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I get a little bit nervous around you  
> I get a little bit stressed out when I think about you

Tony strode back to his room to take a shower and wash the flight off him. Dr. Banner would make this trip bearable, at least. Despite his self-imposed loneliness, the man was itching for _something_ and Tony intended to offer him a job as soon as possible. Tony huffed at Banner’s unexercised genius as he unlocked his door and took in his assigned room. It held a bed and table, and some lucky SHIELD agent had lugged a whiteboard in, presumably on Coulson’s recommendation. They wanted him working so he wasn’t turning his attention to their many well-kept secrets.

Well, Tony thought to himself, that ship’s already sailed.

He smiled to himself as he thought about Captain America’s obvious unease. The guy was seriously uptight and Tony felt he could hardly blame him. _He_ struggled to get over jet lag when he flew internally; Cap was dealing with 70 years’ worth. He considered getting Pepper to buy a couple of original ‘40s tech. Tony could fix them up and slowly upgrade Cap over time. Like a fast track of the last century’s innovation.

Natasha Romanoff still bothered him from the time she posed as his secretary. Thor was stubborn but he seemed protective of Earth and its inhabitants. Fury seemed antsy: there was something he wasn’t telling them.

As he showered, his mind drifted to what his father had told him of the search for Captain America. His father’s excitement over the rediscovery of the tesseract was fresh in his mind’s eye. Tony exhaled short, bitter breaths. He wished his father could have seen the look on Cap’s face when they discussed the cube earlier. The guy looked like he wanted to throttle the idiot that had lugged it back out of the ocean Cap himself had sacrificed himself to dump the damn thing in.

Tony rubbed a towel over his hair and got dressed. He had to hand it to Howard, good ol’ Cap was a pretty perfect soldier; he looked the part and acted accordingly, following orders and not asking too many questions. Entirely focused on the mission. No wonder Fury wanted him around; finally, a force who would counteract Tony’s difficult personality.

When someone knocked on his door, Tony frowned; he figured Fury or one of the agents would just radio in if they desperately required his presence. He doubted they were being old-fashioned for Captain America’s sake.

Tony opened the door to Captain America standing in the corridor, “Hi, Tony,”

The surprise must have shown on his face as Steve hurried to talk, “I’m sorry to interrupt your time but do you think you could, uh,” Steve placed his hands on his hips as he struggled to find the words, “Do you think you could talk to me a bit more about the tesseract and the, uh, the thermonuclear physics?”

Tony blinked a few times before taking a breath to speak, but Steve beat him to it, “It’s just, I got a little lost back there, and I don’t know if half the stuff I got told, you know, before-“ He peered down the hall, “I don’t even know if any of the stuff I was told about that thing before is anywhere near the truth,” Steve still hadn’t moved his hands off of his hips; Tony catalogued that as a nervous tick, “But it’s not a problem, don’t worry about-“

Tony finally managed to cut him off, “It’s no problem, Rogers, happy to help out an older fella. Come on, I got a whiteboard in here,” Tony jerked his head towards the back of his room and watched Steve’s face clear somewhat. Tony’s brain was piecing together this new side of the good Captain with Tony’s first impressions and found it fit pretty perfectly.

Steve was still attempting to justify himself as he followed Tony into the room, “It’s just, I never had to try and preserve the thing before,” He laughed self-consciously, scrubbing a hand over the back of his head, “Trying to destroy it was hard enough. I just figure . . . I guess,” Steve swallowed, “I should have read the, uh, the essays?”

Tony, who had been about to draw a fairly shoddy diagram of the cube on the board, turned around to grin at Steve, “Rogers,” He pointed the erasable marker pen at him, “You know I was showing off back there, right?”

Steve chuckled to himself, “Well, I knew that,”

Tony laughed, and Steve made eye contact with him for the first time since he had arrived at his door.

Tony folded his arms and gave Steve an appraising look, “There’s something you think S.H.I.E.L.D’s not getting quite right, isn’t there?”

There was moment of silence between them before Steve sighed and shook his head, “They never should have taken the damn thing out of the ocean,”

Tony felt his mouth twist into a lopsided smile as he nodded and turned back to the whiteboard. He couldn’t wait for Fury to discover that the perfect soldier was not going to be easily won over.

 

* * *

 

 

“So that’s where the iridium comes in?”

Steve was frowning at the whiteboard from his chair, resting his elbows on his knees.

Tony pointed the erasable marker at him, “That’s where the iridium comes in,”

Steve nodded slowly, “Alright, I think I get it,”

Tony chuckled, “They didn’t teach this in the ‘30s?”

Steve laughed with him, “No, they most certainly did not,”

Tony noted the decrease in tension in Steve’s shoulders each time he mentioned his past life.

Steve stood and drifted towards the whiteboard, now bearing a shoddy diagram of the tesseract, as well as numerous scribbles in Tony’s horrific handwriting. Steve finally turned to Tony and placed his hands on his hips. Tony remembered the nervous tick from before.

“Thank you, Tony. I really appreciate it,”

Tony shook his head, “No, it’s no problem, Cap,”

Steve smiled a little tightly at the nickname, “I really mean it, Tony. I just wish-”

Steve cut himself off, so Tony took a step closer, “Steve, it doesn’t matter that you’re adjusting slowly. Most grandpas can’t even work a touch screen,”

Steve laughed again, quieter this time.

Tony could have had that sound on loop for all time.

Steve licked his lips, “I just-”

He swallowed and moved indiscriminately closer.

Tony could count the eyelashes fanning out on Steve’s pale cheeks.

“What?” murmured Tony.

“I just wish-" Steve let his eyes flutter shut.

"What?" Tony repeated softly.

"I just want-"

Steve leaned in.


	3. Into It

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Into It by Camila Cabello

Tony leaned into the kiss with a groan, dropping the marker on the floor in favor of pushing his hands into Steve’s thick blond hair.  
Steve’s mind was a mess. He couldn’t focus on the consequences of what he was doing when Tony was threading his hands through his hair and letting Steve back him up against the wall. Steve hadn’t even realised he was moving and Tony huffed a laugh against Steve’s lips as his back hit the solid wall. Steve pushed Tony’s head back as he kissed him, licking into his mouth. Tony stretched his neck and Steve groaned, nuzzling his way from Tony’s lips down the tan skin stretched over the musculature of his neck.

The sounds Tony made were slowly driving Steve insane. It was torturous and addictive.  
  
He hadn’t even realised this was what he wanted until Tony had moved into his space.  
  
Everything in him on fire. Tony moaned softly as Steve grazed his teeth over his throat. Steve felt a jolt of desire rush to his groin. He exhaled over the bruise he’d marked on Tony’s throat and Tony breathed in sharply. Steve glanced at Tony’s face. He looked thoroughly wrecked, his lips kiss-bitten, his throat slowly reddening, his pupils blown wide with desire.

Steve smiled and kissed Tony on the lips slowly, maddeningly slowly. As their lips fell apart, their foreheads knocked together. Tony huffed a little laugh again. Steve wanted to catch it with his mouth.

Tony raised his eyes to look at him as Steve whispered, “This okay?”

Tony’s eyes shone with mirth, “You’re asking me?”

Steve looked down, a little embarrassed at his previous enthusiasm. Tony moved his hands to hold Steve’s face in his hands, “You’re beautiful,”

Steve shook his head softly. Tony rolled his eyes lightly and kissed him again.

Steve felt light-headed.

His heart was pounding madly as Tony took his shirt off. Steve followed suit, hating the Captain America costume more than ever, his old self-consciousness pricking; he never did quite get used to his new body.

Tony pulled Steve in again and they half-fell onto Tony’s bed. Steve looked down at Tony, taking him in before picking up where he left off against the wall. He kissed his way down Tony’s chest, allowing his teeth to graze where Tony moaned.

They were both breathing hard by the time Steve reached the waistband of Tony’s trousers. Steve glanced up to find Tony gazing at him. He had raised himself up on his elbows to watch Steve’s progress but now he had an odd expression on his face.

Slowly, Tony reached down and brought Steve back. He kissed him deeply, running his hands over Steve’s torso. Steve shivered and Tony smirked slightly before leaning in to kiss Steve’s throat. Steve gasped harshly as Tony bit down before wetly kissing the bruise he’d made. Steve shuddered, only encouraging Tony to do it again and again.

Steve didn't know how much time had passed before he began to lowere himself down over Tony, his muscles beginning to ache.

Eventually, they were just lying in the bed, Tony’s head nestled in Steve’s chest. Steve allowed his fingers to trace the planes of muscle on Tony’s back. Tony left tiny kisses on Steve's chest.

Their breathing evened out in tandem and the slipped into a deep sleep.


	4. Where Were You in the Morning?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Where Were You in the Morning? by Shawn Mendes

Steve’s eyes were thick with sleep as he blinked them open slowly. It took him a moment to adjust, as it always did these days. It hit Steve suddenly where he was. _What_ he'd done. He hadn’t expected to fall asleep, but he supposed it had been a long day. Blinking rapidly, he noticed the coolness of the sheets. Steve wiped his eyes and looked around the room a little frantically. He stood quickly and peered into the bathroom. Tony was gone.  
Steve knew he shouldn’t be surprised, but he couldn’t help the shreds of disappointment and shame lining his stomach. Swallowing a few times, attempting to clear the bile from his throat, he quickly got dressed. Looking down at himself, he huffed. He really hated this suit.  
He wasn’t quite sure what to do, so he simply waited until he could hear that the corridor was empty before he quickly stepped out and began to walk in the direction of his room. Steve felt a growing anger beginning to replace the shame; he couldn’t believe he was such an idiot. A man like Tony, infamous for his trail of disgruntled lovers and ‘playboy’ attitude, and Steve, a relic from a simpler time. Tony had obviously watched Steve blunder through that first meeting and thought, _There’s something to pass the time.  
_Even better when Steve had naively believed Tony might take pity on him when he had stupidly asked for his help last night. It was ironic that the one thing about Steve that interested Tony was the only part of him that wasn’t _him._

Suddenly, Steve caught sight of Tony working with Bruce in the lab. Anger surged up through his chest. Steve watched as Tony walked behind Bruce, laughter shining behind his dark eyes. Without warning, Tony jabbed Bruce in the side with what looked like a screwdriver.

Steve bolted forwards, “Hey!”

Tony murmured something to Bruce as the other man rubbed his side.

“Are you nuts?” Steve could feel his jaw ache from grinding his teeth.

Tony barely glanced up, “Jury’s out,” He turned back to Bruce, “You really have got a lid on it don’t you? What your secret? Mellow jazz, bongo drums, huge bag of weed?”

“Is everything a joke to you?” Steve felt the keen edge of truth in his words and fought back against his urge to fight.

Tony finally looked him in the eye, “Funny things are,”

“Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn’t funny,” Steve all but snarled, before remembering Bruce, “No offence, Doc,”

Bruce laughed lightly, “It’s alright, I wouldn’t have come aboard if I couldn’t handle pointy things,”

Tony wobbled the screwdriver in his hand incessantly before pointing with it, “You’re tip-toeing, big man. You need to strut,”

Steve could feel his temper boiling, “And you need to focus on the problem, Mr. Stark,”

Tony seemed to smirk at the name before walking around the table to meet Steve, “Do you think I’m not? Why did Fury call us in? Why now? Why not before? What isn’t he telling us?” He spread his hands, “I can’t do the equation unless I have all the variables.”

Steve felt the acid in his stomach before he processed what Tony was saying, “You think Fury’s hiding something?”

“He’s a spy,” Steve hated Tony’s surprise at his lack of discernment regarding Fury, “Captain, he’s _the_ spy. His secrets have secrets,”  
Tony’s version of ‘Mr. Stark’. _Captain_.  
Tony gestured at Bruce, “It’s bugging him too, isn’t it?”

Bruce looked uncomfortable at the sudden attention of both him and Tony, “I just want to finish my work here, and . . .”

Steve frowned, “Doctor?”

Bruce took off his glasses in a seemingly placating gesture, “'A warm light for all mankind', Loki’s jab at Fury about the Cube,”

“I heard it,” Steve nodded.

Bruce pointed at Tony, “I think that was meant for you,” Steve was irritated as Tony offered a blueberry to Bruce, who continued, “Even if Barton didn’t tell Loki about the tower, it was still all over the news.”

“The Stark Tower?” Steve asked, thinking of the big sign displaying the Stark name so proudly on that obnoxious tower and felt a course of anger bolt through his stomach, “That big, ugly building in New York?” Tony raised his eyebrows, but Steve ignored him.

Tony continued to stare at Steve as Bruce explained, “It's powered by an arc reactor, a self-sustaining energy source. That thing will run itself for what, a year?”

Tony pulled himself away from Steve’s gaze and nodded, “It’s just the prototype. I’m kind of the only name in clean energy right now,” Steve remembered Tony telling him last night. Throughout Tony’s breakdown of the tesseract, Steve had picked up on references to Tony’s previous life compared to what the Stark company produced now. Steve knew all about it, having scored the news for information after finding out Howard had a son. Tony glanced at Steve, “That’s what he’s getting at,”

Bruce nodded, “So, why didn’t S.H.I.E.L.D bring him in on the tesseract project? What are they doing in the energy business in the first place?”

Tony walked back around the table behind Bruce so that he didn’t have to brush up against Steve as he pulled out a small tablet, “I should probably look into that once my decryption programme finishes breaking into all of S.H.I.E.L.D’s secure files.”

Tony's words permeated Steve's brain. He stepped towards Tony, “I’m sorry, did you say-”

Tony interrupted him, “Jarvis has been running it since I hit the bridge. In a few hours, I’ll know every dirty secret S.H.I.E.L.D has ever tried to hide,” He offered the bag he was holding to Steve, “Blueberry?”

Steve refused to let Tony get a rise out of him, but he couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of his voice, “Yet you’re confused about why they didn’t want you around.”

Tony frowned at him, “An intelligence organization that fears intelligence? Historically, not awesome.”

Steve sighed, “I think Loki’s trying to wind us up. This is a man who means to start a war and if we don’t stay focused, he’ll succeed,” He glanced back at Bruce, “We have orders. We should follow them,”

Tony stuffed blueberries into his mouth, “Following’s not really my style,”

“And you’re all about style, aren’t you?” Steve deadpanned.

The beginnings of a grin emerged on Tony’s face, before he tamped it down with an exaggerated frown of confusion, “Of the people in this room, which one is, A, wearing a spangly outfit,” Steve hated that he agreed with Tony on that point, “And, B, not of use?”  
At that, Steve looked Tony up and down and quirked a questioning eyebrow at him.

Bruce intervened quickly, “Steve tell me none of this smells a little funky to you,”

Steve locked eyes with Tony briefly. He was too angry to try and discern what the man's currently odd expression was supposed to mean.

Striding out of the lab, he muttered, “Just find the cube.”


End file.
